STAND. COM. REP. NO. 656

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 32

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2021

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Commerce and Consumer Protection, to which was referred S.B. No. 32 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO INFRASTRUCTURE,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to require public water or sewer utilities to consider the disruption to transportation as a criterion in planning future maintenance.

Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs and the Public Utilities Commission.

Your Committee finds it is important to prioritize the maintenance of utility infrastructure, but also recognizes such maintenance can cause significant traffic congestion. This measure would help limit the disruptions to traffic and transportation that arise from planned utility maintenance.

Your Committee notes the concerns raised in testimony that this measure, as currently drafted, fails to recognize that public water and sewer utilities are not the only utilities with underground infrastructure and this measure would only affect primarily rural water and sewer utility companies regulated by the Public Utilities Commission. Because installation, maintenance, and retirement of underground infrastructure, whether the utility is regulated by the Public Utilities Commission or is a municipal entity, can affect traffic transportation, amendments to this measure are necessary to address these concerns.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Deleting language that would have required public water and sewer utilities regulated under chapter 269, Hawaii Revised Statutes, to consider the disruption to traffic and transportation as a criterion in planning future maintenance;

(2) Inserting language into chapter 264, Hawaii Revised Statutes, to clarify that any public utility seeking a permit to disturb a state highway shall consider the disruption to traffic and transportation as a criterion in planning future maintenance;

(3) Inserting an effective date of July 1, 2050, to encourage further discussion; and

(4) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Commerce and Consumer Protection that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 32, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 32, S.D. 1.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Commerce and Consumer Protection,

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ROSALYN H. BAKER, Chair